The present invention relates in general to providing location information for mobile resources and, in particular, to a system for combining data and wireless communications network assets for improved availability and delivery of graphical display information identifying one or more locations of mobile resources.
In a variety of contexts, it is useful to provide information regarding the position of mobile resources. Such resource locations may include, for example: the location of an individual (including one""s self); a car, truck, boat or other vehicle; one or more vehicles of a fleet; and/or the location of a mobile unit such as a wireless telephone. Applications that make use of such location information include fleet management applications, applications for providing driving or walking instructions and applications for tracking moving vehicles.
In such applications, it is sometimes desirable to provide location information by way of a graphical display. Such a display may show the location of a mobile resource on a map of a surrounding area. The map may identify other requested location information, such as the location of a service provider of interest, for example, a hotel, restaurant or the like, in addition to the mobile resource location. Such graphical displays are useful because they allow a viewer to quickly ascertain a significant amount of location information. For example, a dispatcher or fleet manager may quickly ascertain the location of mobile resources of interest by viewing the display. Similarly, an individual may quickly determine how to drive or walk to an identified service provider location by viewing a map that identifies both the location of the individual and the service provider location. Accordingly, it is useful to provide a display that includes at least mapping information and a marker, e.g., a cursor or other identifier, indicating the position of a mobile resource.
A number of systems have been implemented or proposed for providing map displays with mobile resource location markers. These include vehicle resident navigation systems and embedded location map servers. Vehicle resident navigation systems generally include an on-board satellite transceiver for location determination based on communication with satellites of a satellite constellation, e.g., a GPS transceiver, and an on-board computer for accessing stored mapping data. The satellite transceiver is generally capable of providing information sufficient to determine the coordinates of the vehicle as well as travel direction and speed. In this regard, the transceiver may provide raw data such as ranging/timing information that is processed by the on-board computer to obtain the coordinate and other processed information, or the processed information may be directly provided by the satellite transceiver.
Such systems have proved effective for various applications including providing driving instructions. However, such applications generally do not provide information for remotely monitoring vehicle location. In addition, such applications are generally limited to stored mapping information that may become outdated. Moreover, such systems generally require a dedicated satellite-based location finding transceiver that involves significant expense and on-board computing resources, as well as limiting system availability.
Embedded location map servers generate maps with embedded markers indicating the location of mobile resources, and make the resulting marker embedded maps available over a wide area network such as the Internet. In one such system, the mobile resources of interest are each provided with an on-board, satellite-based location finding system such as a GPS transceiver. Raw location data is transmitted across an air interface from the mobile resource to a central server of the wide area network. The server uses the raw location data to compute processed location data for the mobile resource, accesses stored mapping data and generates a map display with embedded marker information. This embedded marker mapping information is then made available over the wide area network such that a client can download a map with an embedded marker identifying the location of a mobile resource of interest. Although the system makes graphical location information available over a wide area network, it is still limited to use in connection with mobile resources with satellite-based location finding systems. Moreover, the provision of marker embedded mapping information imposes certain operational constraints.
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for improved availability and delivery of graphical location information regarding mobile resources. The invention allows for client side correlation of mapping data and marker data for enhanced processing options. In addition, the invention allows for provisioning of graphical location information for mobile resources without fully integrated satellite-based location equipment, e.g., mobile resources located using wireless network location finding technologies and other network assisted location technologies. The invention also enables provisioning of graphical position information to wireless terminals and otherwise facilitates operation in accordance with various network protocols.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for correlating mapping information and mobile resource marker information on a client side of a data-enabled network interface. The data enabled network, which may involve a wide area network such as the Internet and/or a data-enabled wireless network, includes a server node and a client node. The method includes the steps of: receiving location information regarding a mobile resource location; accessing, at the server node, mapping information for a geographical area including the mobile resource location; generating marker information defining a graphical representation of the mobile resource location; transmitting, from the server node to the client node, a first message set including the mapping information; and combining, at the client node, the mapping information and the marker information to generate a graphical display including the mobile resource location. Marker information may be transmitted form the server node to a client node in a second message set.
By separately providing the mapping information and marker information, rather than transmitting combined mapping and marker information across the network interface, and combining such information at the client node, the invention allows for certain processing advantages. For example, in the case of providing periodic updates of a mobile resource location where a given set of mapping data may be applicable to multiple updates, the invention avoids the necessity of resending certain mapping data. That is, only the marker updates may be transmitted across the network so long as the mobile resource remains within the bounds of the previously transmitted mapping data. This is particularly advantageous in environments where bandwidth and processing resources are limited such as networks including an air interface and applications involving thin clients such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), or Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) enabled wireless telephones/terminals or other terminals with limited processing resources. Relatedly, the mapping information and marker information can be transmitted at different times or via different paths for improved processing options or to better utilize available bandwidth.
An associated client apparatus includes a network interface for receiving the mapping information and marker information, logic for correlating the marker information to the mapping information and generating composite display information reflecting the mapping information and marker information, and a display for displaying the composite display information. For example, the client apparatus may include a processor running: 1) a browser or microbrowser running a Java applet to request the mapping information and marker information, and 2) a local mapping application for producing a map image and plotting the marker at the appropriate location on the map image.
According to another aspect of the present invention, graphical display information is provided regarding mobile resources that do not include fully integrated satellite-based location systems. For example, the location information for a mobile resource of interest may be provided by a wireless network assisted system such as a cell, cell sector or microcell location technology; a time difference of arrival (TDOA), angle of arrival (AOA) or other network triangulation technology; or a network assisted GPS technology. The associated method includes the steps of: providing a processing platform for receiving marker information regarding a mobile resource location; accessing mapping information for an area including the mobile resource location and generating graphical display information based on the mapping information and marker information; providing a link between the platform and a network assisted location finding system, the network assisted location finding system being operative for determining network location information regarding a mobile resource within an area of the network based at least in part on a relationship between a location of the mobile resource unit and a known location of a network structure in the noted area of the network; receiving, via the link, the network location information for the mobile resource; and operating logic running on the platform to generate a display based on the network location information. By virtue of the invention, graphical location information can be provided even for mobile resources that do not include a fully integrated satellite based location finding system. Accordingly, graphical location information can be provided for more mobile resources, at less cost and without requiring significant mobile unit computing resources dedicated to location finding.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for provisioning graphical location data to wireless data network enabled units. For example, graphical location information may be provided to a wireless phone, PDA or other wireless terminal. The method includes the steps of: providing a platform selectively interconnected to a first wireless unit via an air interface; obtaining location information regarding the same and/or a different wireless unit; accessing mapping information for a geographical area including the located wireless unit based on the location information; transmitting at least the mapping information from the platform to the first wireless unit; and displaying a composite display based on the mapping information and the location information on a display device associated with the first wireless unit. The nature of the display, including the richness and detail of the graphics, may vary depending, for example, on limitations of the display device and bandwidth and protocol limitations. Moreover, in accordance with this aspect of the present invention, the location information may be correlated to the mapping information at the platform or at the first wireless unit.